Countless hours of online game playing have been spent under the guise of preventing Alzheimer’s. It’s a good excuse anyway. But does it really work?

Despite the fact that we keep hearing that we should do crossword puzzles and the like, science actually has no definitive answer on the topic. It may help, but it hasn’t been proven.

Besides, those aren’t the only Alzheimer’s-prevention exercises they’re looking at. Researchers are studying many ways to stay mentally active.

One such researcher is cognitive neuroscientist Sandi Chapman, Ph.D., founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas. She doesn’t believe games do much good for Alzheimer’s prevention. You’ll get better at playing them, “but it’s not going to transfer to your ability to make financial decisions or medical decisions,” she says.

Chapman has other ideas for that. Below are some exercises she prefers, which focus on creative, abstract, insightful thinking. They won’t necessarily prevent Alzheimer’s, but she believes they may delay the symptoms—for up to two to five years. And for many people, that could have the effect of prevention. “If we can push the onset of dementia by even two years out, it will cut the incidence by 50 percent,” she says.

1. Find new meanings. After reading a book (or chapter) or seeing a movie, figure out what it was really about. For example, you might say The King’s Speech showed how overcoming adversity made the king a stronger leader. Come up with as many meanings as you can.


2. Narrow your focus. Instead of reading 20 articles, read two in-depth so you’re thinking more deeply and clearly than superficially.


3. Limit multitasking. Multitasking fatigues the brain, diminishes mental productivity and increases stress, Chapman says. “Some have suggested that it brings on dementia earlier.”


4. Sort the essential from the trivial. From your to-do list, pick the two most important tasks, and spend most of your time on those. This will help you develop what Chapman calls robust cognitive function. “Sorting the essential from the trivial will make you so much more strategic, your brain clearer.”


5. Challenge yourself. Whatever your passion is, “keep ratcheting up the cognitive challenge.” Don’t get in a rut.

Nothing has been proven to prevent Alzheimer’s, but at least there are various options for mental exercise to keep our brain stimulated, help us think more clearly now, and just possibly delay symptoms of Alzheimer’s later.